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DANIEL WEBSTER. 



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BURLINGTON, N. J. 



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A EULOGY 



PRONOUNCED 0>J 



DANIEL WEBSTEK 



BEFOEE THE CITIZENS OF BURLINGTON, N. J., 



AT THE LYCEUM, 



On November 4th, 1852. 



./" 



CORTLANDT VAN RENSSELAER, 

A MINISTER OF THE PRESBTTERIAX CHURCD, AND AN ELECTOR IN BURLINGTON TOWNSmP. 



WITH AN APPENDIX, 



CONTAINING THE FUNERAL CEREMONIES AT MARSIIFIELD, ETC. 



PUBLISHED BY REQXJEST. 




BURLINGTON, N. J. 

1852. 






This Eulojry was commenced with the view of preparing an article for The Peesbt- 
TEiiiAS Magazine, of which die writer is the Editor. It soon expanded, however, beyond 
the limits originally intended ; and finally assumed the form of a popular address, in re- 
sponse to the Providence which seemed to invite the public improvement of so solemn an 
occasion. It is now committed to the press, at the suggestion of, perhaps too partial, friends. 

The facts and anecdotes, illustrating Mr. Webster's life, have been derived from Mr. 
Everett's Biographical Sketch, prefixed to the '• Works of Daniel Webster;" from Mr. March's 
Life of Webster; and from the newspapers, especially the Netc York Daily Times, which 
has abounded in eloquent notices of the departed Statesman. 

BORUSOIOX, N. J, 

November 5th. 1852. 



c. s n r. R XI A X, i' r i n t r. r, 
I'biliuJel|jhia. 



Friends and Fellow-citizens : 

Ne^Y Jersey, "vvith lier sisters of the Confederacy, stricken in Provi- 
dence, mourns at the grave of Daniel Webster. 

As one of the "old thirteen," — ever dear to the departed states- 
man, — New Jersey claims to participate in his obsequies. The achieve- 
ments on our soil were often the theme of his glowing praise. Trenton, 
and Princeton, and Monmouth, were fields, whose memories of renown 
were cherished by him as dearly as those of Lexington, and Concord, 
and Bunker Hill. Our own honoured Richard Stockton, too, was his 
intimate, personal friend ; and the equally distinguished son. New Jer- 
sey's high-souled Senator in Congress ; and Frelinghuysen, gracing lite- 
rature with the laurels won in the halls of legislation. Nor can it be 
forgotten that the last cause at the bar,* argued by the giant lawyer- 
statesman, was in our own Capital, on the banks of the Delaware, in the 
presence of our great men, and in sight of the records, the statutes, and 
the heraldry of New Jersey. 

In the town of Marslifield is a sepulchre, inscri])ed with the name of 
Daniel Webster. Death, like truth, is severe in its simplicity. A 
few letters tell its triumph ; a little dust is its victory. That noble 
form, lately animated with life, lies in silence amidst earth and graves. 
Quenched is the full eye which delighted in the researches of know- 
ledge, in the glance of the stars of heaven, in the woods, and fields, and 
streams, and sea, in the countenances of listening men, and in the plea- 
sant charms of a rural home. He has gone. With his friendship, his 
learning, his eloquence, his love of country, his genius, his wealth of 
public service, Webster has gone down to the grave. 

At this season of national bereavement, it is a duty and a privilege 
to attempt to gather up some of the materials which make his memory 
a precious inheritance of our own and of future generations. In giving 
method to the present Address, it is proposed to offer some account of 
Mr. Webster's early youth ; to form an estimate of his public life and 

* The case of Goodyear vs. Day, the celebrated Patent case, argued at Trenton. 



services ; to consider his social and religious character, and death ; and 
to unfold some of the lessons to he learned at his fjrave. 

I. The youth of Daniel "Webster has a congruity of promise and of 
excellence, which it is pleasing to record. From the solemn grave of 
the illustrious departed on the shores of the Atlantic, let us turn to his 
birthplace among the hills of New Hampshire. 



GOD S SOVEREIGNTY AT SALISBURY. 

God's sovereignty, exercised throughout the earth, vras seen in the 
town of Salisbury, X. II., where was born one of the greatest of men. 
Amidst the rude, majestic scenery of nature ; the son of reputable and 
pious parents ; far away from the scenes of wealth and turmoil ; Daniel 
Wllster, a creation of God, entered the world. In the year 1782, 
thousands of children were born, but the pre-eminent among them was 
the son of Ebenezer and Abigail "Webster. Nor since the 18th of 
January, of that year, has there appeared on earth an intellect, whose 
towering majesty has reached, in the range of human elevation, the 
aerial height of this New Hampshire child. God, in his sovereignty, 
gave that mind to that human being, arranged the time and circum- 
stances of his birth ; ordered for him the training and the memories of 
a blessed home ; and carried on the designs of Providence in his future 
career of usefulness and fame. 



THE BAPTISM OF A FARMER S BOY. 

It was fit that a child of God's predestined greatness, should be con- 
secrated to the service of his Maker. On "Meetinir-IIouse Hill" stands 
the old Puritan Church, where "the rude forefathers" met to worship 
the Kin;' of kin^s. It is a brij^ht and beautiful morninir, accordin^j to 
tradition, when Ebenezer and Abigail Webster set out for the house of 
God, accompanied by their children, and carrying their new-born infant 
for the holy rite of baptism. The Rev. Jonathan Searle, the minister 
of the parish, dressed in the robes of the olden time, is at his post, in 
the high, magisterial Puritan pulpit. After prayer, the reading of the 
Word, and a hymn, the sacrament is to be administered. The young, 
mysterious infant is brought forward, no one knowing or dreaming 
''what manner of child this was to be;" the vows are taken ; and in the 
presence of God, and angels, and witnessing men, Daniel Webster was 
baj)tizcd " in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost." 

That old church has long since crumbled into ruin. Minister, parents, 
and child are also now in the dust ; but the ceremonies of that day have 
an interest which yet lingers around the old "Meeting-House Hill." 



THE HOUSEHOLD TRAINIXG OF FUTURE (JREATXESS. 

Daniel Webster is indebted, under God, to nothing more than to his 
youthful training. Without this, he would have been a wreck, cast up 
and torn to pieces, in early dishonour, upon the terrific precipices of 
human passion. For the elevation of his public sentiments, for the 
integrity of a long career, for whatever of restraint was experienced in 
social life, and whatever of solace hovered around his dying bed, he 
was under obligations to the honoured and beloved parents who were 
tlie guardians of his childhood and youtli. 

His first teacher was his mother. Other children had she already 
nursed and taught ; but the youngest boy was the darling, and she 
prophesied great things of her Daniel. There she sits, in her quiet 
home, with the young child on her knee, teaching him the letters of the 
alphabet, and telling him how great and good is God. It has been said 
that the extraordinary genius of the future statesman descended from 
the maternal line ; and it is certain that Mrs. Webster was a woman of 
uncommon intellect, of warm afi"ections, of true piety, and of command- 
ing influence in her household. It is nevertheless true that the father 
was also an eminent man, both in public and private life. Daniel thus 
writes of his father, thirty years after he had been in his grave : " He 
had in him what I recollect to have been the character of some of the 
old Puritans. He was deeply religious, but not sour; on the contrary, 
good-humoured, facetious, — showing, even in his age, with a contagious 
laugh, teeth all white as alabaster, — gentle, soft, playful ; — and yet 
having a heart in him that he seemed to have borrowed from a lion. 
He could frown (a frown it was) ; but cheerfulness, good humour, and 
smiles, composed his most usual aspect." 

There can be no doubt that the parents' nurture of their son left its 
influence upon all his future life. The Hon. RuFUS Choate* alludes 
to " that training of the giant infancy on Catechism and Bible and 
Watts s version of the Psalms, and on the traditions of Plymouth and 
Fort William Henry, and the age of Washington and Franklin." 
All that father and mother could do, to bring up their child in the true 
principles both of Church and of State, was done by these pious, 
republican parents. The glorious doctrines of the Bible, and the en- 
nobling truths of public liberty, were the seed sown into the furrows of 
his mighty soul. 

THE statesman AT THE COMMON SCHOOL. 

On the easterly side of the road, a short distance from the family 

^" Mr. Choate's speech before the Boston bar is one of the eloquent — the most elo- 
quent? — tributes of the deeply solemn occasion. It does equal honour to the speaker's 
fine, intense intellect, and warm, large heart. 



mansion, between two buttonwoods, stood the log schoolhouse, taught by 
Thomas Chase. Here the future statesman commenced his public edu- 
cation. Reading, writing, and arithmetic, with instruction in the Bible 
and Catechism, formed the grand outlines of an old-fashioned, New 
England education. Like the hills of New Hampshire, these constitute 
the granite range of the soil, from whence flow the tributaries and the 
rivers of future acquisition. Into the log school of Salisbury the little 
boy with a high forehead and black eye went daily, to obtain the rudi- 
ments of an English education. The hand that is learning to write in 
the rude copy-book is at some future day to draw up our grandest 
documents of State, and to sign treaties with foreign powers. Here 
were acquired those pure Saxon words which Avere to become the regalia 
of a king of orators ; here the reading, which opened to his clear 
intellect the stores of ancient and professional knowledge ; here the 
early taste for thoroughness and simplicity. How great has been the 
inlluence of the schoolhouses of New England in training up generations 
for usefulness in Church and State, and for the sacred duties of domestic 
life ! Happy for Daniel "Webster that the schoolmaster was abroad in 
his day ! Long may the common schools of our land flourish, with en- 
larged blessings for the people ; and may they never teach human 
learninn; to the exclusion of the higher knowled^-e of Christ I 

DANIEL WEBSTER LEARNING AGRICULTURE. 

Agricultural pursuits had, in after life, an absorbing influence on Mr. 
AVebster. Where did he acquire his fondness for engaging in the culti- 
vation of the field, and his skill in successfully managing the farm? 
Where else than on the old homestead ? He used to follow the horse 
in the plough, was taught to handle the sickle, knew how to rake and 
stack hay, drove the cows to pasture in the morning and home again at 
night ; in short, he was trained from a boy to do the work of a farm, 
and he never ceased to love these joyous and hearty occupations of his 
youth. The old Salisbury fields were the agricultural school where he 
became imbued with the taste and knowledge which afterwards made him 
a farmer of the highest grade, both in science and in practice. 

Agriculture, as an occupation, has a useful influence. It gives a 
practical direction to the mind; it cultivates habits of industry; pro- 
motes self-reliance and independence ; gives hardihood to the frame ; 
fosters the attachment of home, and brings God and his providence into 
a peculiar kind of contact with ovcry-day life. Deem not the farm-work 
of this boy an unimportant afl*air of his early days I Among humble 
and pious farmers, he is, with them, getting good and doing good. 



" Oft did the harvest to their sickle yield, 

Their furrow oft the stubborn glebe has broke ; 
How jocund did they drive their team a-field ! 

How bowed the woods beneath their sturdy stroke! 

" Let not Ambition mock their useful toil, 
Their homely joys, and destiny obscure; 
Nor Grandeur hear, with a disdainful smile. 
The short and simple annals of the poor." 

No ! On that retired farm, there is one who will arise to a gran- 
deur of fame, which the ambition of few will be bold enough to aim at. 
He Avill be heard of again at Washington ! lie will be heard of at 
Marsiifield ! 

the new hampshire boy at an academy. 

Tlie followins; is Mr. Webster's own account of the circumstances 
which resulted in his going to Exeter Academy, a celebrated institution, 
founded in 1781 by the liberality of John Phillips, LL.D. : 

'' On a hot day in July, — it must have been one of the last years of Washington's 
administration, — I was making hay with my father, just where I now see a remain- 
ing elm tree, about the middle of the afternoon. The Hon. Abiel Foster, jNI. C, who 
lived in Canterbury, six miles otF, called at the house, and came into the field to see 
my father. He was a worthy man. college learned, and had been a minister, but 
was not a person of any considerable natural powers. My father was his friend and 
supporter. He talked awhile in the Held, and went on his way. 

" When he was gone, my father called me to him, and we sat down beneath the 
elm, on a hay-cock. He said, 'My son, that is a worthy man, — he is a member of 
Congress, — he goes to Philadelphia, and gets si.x dollars a day, while I toil here. It 
is because he had an education, which I never had. If I had had his early educa- 
tion, I should have been in Philadelphia in his place. I came near it, as it was. 
But I missed it, and now I must work here.' 'My dear father," said I, 'you shall 
not work. Brother and I will work for you, and wear our hands out, and you shall 
rest,' — and I remember to have cried, and I cry now, at the recollection. • j\Iy 
child,' said he, ' it is of no importance to me ; I now live but for my children ; I could 
not give your elder brother the advantages of knowledge, but I can do something for 
you. Exert yourself — improve your opportunities — learn — Icarn — and when I am 
gone, you will not need to go through the hardships which I have undergone, and 
which have made me an old man before my time.' 

" The next I\Iay he took me to Exeter to the Phillips Exeter Academy, and placed 
me under the tuition of its excellent preceptor, Dr. Benjamin Abbott, still living." 

Mr. Webster entered Phillips's Academy in May, 179G, at the age of 
fourteen, and remained there nine months. He greatly endeared him- 
self to Dr. Abbott, and made considerable progress in the acquisition of 
the Latin language, in composition, and in declamation. His intellec- 
tual and social faculties received a kindly development among the ninety 
boys at the institution. After leaving Exeter, Mr. Webster was placed 



8 

for six months in the family of the Rev. Samuel Wood, D.D.,* of Bosca- 
wen, who superintended his studies, and persuaded him to apply for 
admission, without delay, into Dartmouth College. 

THE YOUNG STUDENT AT DARTMOUTH COLLEGE. 

Although Mr. "Webster did not begin his Greek grammar until June, 
he entered College in August. This was in 1797, when John Wheeloek, 
LL. D., was president. Mr. Webster chiefly distinguished himself, in 
the words of Dr. Shurtleff, by " attending to his own business," and 
pursuing his studies M'ith diligence. Yirgil and Cicero were his favourite 
Latin authors. Watts on the Mind and Locke on the Understanding 
developed his metaphysical acumen ; and his style of speaking was nur- 
tured by reading Burke, Pitt, Ames, Hamilton, and other distinguished 
orators. While in College, in the Junior year, Mr. Webster delivered a 
fourth of July oration, which showed that he well understood American 
history and the origin of our constitution. This remarkable production 
— for a young man — was published in the year 1800. The following 
extracts will be read with interest : 

"The solemn Declaration of Independence is now pronounced, amidst crowds of 
admiring citizens, by the supreme council of our nation: and received with the un- 
bounded plaudits of a grateful people. 

*• That was the hour when heroism was proved — and the souls of men tried. 

" It was then, ye venerable patriots (speaking to the Revolutionary soldiers 
present), it was then you lifted the indignant arm, and unitedly swore to be free! 
Despising such toys as subjugated empires, you then knew no middle fortune between 
liberty and death. 

" Firmly relying on the protection of heaven, unwarped in the resolution you had 
taken, you then, undaunted, met — engaged — defeated the gigantic power of Britain, 
and ro?e triumphant over the aggressions of your enemies. 

"Trenton, Princeton, Bennington, and Saratoga, were the successive theatres of 
your victories, and the utmost bounds of creation are the limits to your fame ! The 
sacred lire of freedom, then enkindled in your breasts, shall be perpetuated through 
the long descent of future ages, and bum, with undiminished fervour, in the bosom of 
millions yet unborn.'" 

The young orator alludes to the Articles of Confederation and to the 
Constitution in the same terms which characterized his subsequent 
speeches in the Senate of the United States: 

* The Rev. Dr. Wood was one of the great and useful men of his day. It is said that 
he personally instructed, in his own house, one liuuJred and fifty-five pupils, many of 
whom he educated gratuitously. Of these, one hundred and five entered college ; from 
fort}' to fifty became ministers; twenty pursued the profession of law, and six or seven 
that of medicine. Among his pupils, also, were governors, judges, aud members of 
Congress. 



9 

"No sooner was peace restored with England (the first grand article of which 
was the acknowledgment of our independence), than the old system of Confedera- 
tion, dictated, at first, by necessity, and adopted for the purposes of the moment, 
was found inadequate to the government of an extensive Empire. Under a full 
conviction of this, we then saw tlie people of these States engaged in a transaction 
which is undoubtedly the greatest appro.vimation towards human perfection the po- 
litical world ever yet wiuiessed, and which, perhaps, will for ever stand in the 
history of mankind without a parallel. A great Republic, composed of ditferent 
States, whose interest in all respects could not be perfectly compatible, then came 
deliberately forward, discarded one system of government and adopted another, 
without the loss of one man's blood.'"' 

Mr. "Webster's future eminence was clearly predicted in college. 
Professor Sanborn sajs: "By the unanimous consent both of teachers 
and classmates, he stood at the head of his associates in study ; and 
was as far above them in all that constitutes human greatness as he is 
now." Anecdotes of him, treasured up in the traditions of succeeding 
classes, were told for many years. His collegiate course was the means 
of nurturing and developing the greatness Avhich gave honour to New 
England and the whole country. Fortunate the institution which enrols 
Daniel Webster among its alumni ! 

THE GRADUATE A SCHOOL-TEACHER. 

There is something sublime in the association of such a name with 
this great profession. Twice did this mighty man of intellect conde- 
scend, as teacher, to train the intellect of others. Once during a col- 
lege vacation, and again at Fryeburg in Maine, shortly after he was gra- 
duated.* It was at the latter place that he was more particularly 
known as a teacher. The town of Fryeburg will ever be celebrated as 
the sphere which exercised the training talent of the immortal statesman. 
The object of Mr. AVebster, in securing the situation, was honourable to 
his heart. It was for the purpose of assisting his brother Ezekiel 
through college. His salary as teacher was only $350, or at the rate 
of about Si a day; but by becoming assistant to the Register of Deeds, 
he was enabled to defray his own expenses, and to contribute to the 
education of his beloved brother. f 

Daniel Webster, a teacher I Well done, thou glorious son of Puritan 

* Mr. Everett, in his glowing speech, says that -when he was a little boy, about ten 
years old, his teacher, Ezekiel Webster [Daniel's brother], was taken sick, and that 
Daniel supplied the place for a week or two. This was in 1804. 

j " Mr. Webster's son, and one of his friends, have lately visited Fryeburg, and 
examined these records of deeds. They are still preserved in two huge folio volumes, 
in Mr. Webster's handwriting, exciting wonder how so much work could be done in 
the evening, after days of close confinement to the business of the school. They looked 
also at the records of the trustees of the academy, and found in them a most respectful 
and affectionate vote of thanks and good-will to Mr. Webster when he took leave of his 
employment." Everett's Memoir, p. xxvii. 



10 

ancestry. The office honoured thee, as thou honoured it. Second only 
to the ministry in its capacities of usefulness, it needs the services of 
the greatest and of the best. "What thou hadst, thou didst bestow ; 
and teacbers will thank thee for the recollection of thy labours, and for 
thy impressive professional example. 

The Rev. Dr. Osgood, of Springfield, Mass., related* that Mr. "Web- 
ster boarded with his father for seven months, whilst teaching at Frye- 
burg, and that during that time he [Dr. Osgood] became intimate with 
him. Dr. Osgood bore testimony to the manly, moral, and religious 
character of Mr. Webster, who " at one time serioiisli/ entertained the 
idea of studying for the ministry." Such a testimonial, coming up from 
the cherished memories of half a century, exalts the young teacher in 
the hearts of other generations. 

II. Mr. "Webster's public life now opens before us. The Connec- 
ticut Iliver, on the banks of which stands Dartmouth College, sweeps 
downward to the sea. Thus the career of the graduated youth swells 
into the vast affairs of the Avorld. 

The anticipations of Mr, "Webster's early life had a glowing fulfil- 
ment in a long career of distinguished professional and political service. 
In his public relations, he may be contemplated as a laicycr, a states- 
7nan, an orator, and a ivriter. AVould that a more competent person 
stood before you, to do justice to tliis various greatness I 

DANIEL WEBSTER AS A LAWYER. 

"Wliilst teaching school in Fryeburg, the eye of Daniel Webster first 
rested upon Blackstone's Commentaries, as the book of professional 
study, f He, who was born and educated in New Hampshire, and who 
spent the strength of his days in Massachusetts, and at Washington, 
was sent to oNIainc to learn law. The calling, which Providence had in 
view for the young man, was promoted by bringing him in contact with 
Blackstone in a country village. The principles, then acquired, were at 
the foundation of all his future legal attainments. 

Admitted to the bar in 1805, he was drilled to the drudgery and 
honours of the profession, in close competition with the intellect of 
Jeremiah Mason, and other distinguished men. In the midst of a grow- 
ing and extensive practice, he cultivated his powers by study and 
general reading, until finally he was surpassed by none in his vocation. 
His knowledge of the elementary principles of law was profound ; his 
learning, in the application of precedents, and in the citation of statutes 

* In a speech on the occasion of Mr. Webster's Jcatli. Dr. Osgood is an Orthodox 
Congregational niiuister. 

f He borrowed the book, not being in a condition to buy it. 



11 

and authorities, was minute ; and his skill in managing a case, and in 
pleading before a Court or Jury, was eminent. Daniel Webster has 
never had a superior in the combination of qualifications requisite for 
an accomplished lawyer. In the language of llufiis Choato, " he was 
by universal designation, the leader of the general American bar; and 
was one, 

'^ ' The whole Law's thunder born to wield." " 

His reputation as a lawyer was established in the eyes of the nation 
by his argument in the celebrated Dartmouth College case, at "Washing- 
ton, in 1818. On that occasion, he appeared before the Supreme Court 
of the United States in all his eminence of law and oratory, winning 
the judgment of the Bench by his logic, and moving the audience even 
to tears by his pathos.* The tradition of that speech — the technical 
outlines being alone preserved in his Works — makes it one of the 
grandest forensic efforts ever put forth. No lawyer in this country 
has been engaged in as many great cases as Daniel Webster, or managed 
them with more ability and success. He was equally great in civil and 
in criminal cases. His knowledge of human nature was abreast of his 
legal learning. His eye was a searcher of character. His capacity to 
unravel circumstantial testimony, and to present it with precision and 
power to a jury, was one of the many professional adaptations, which, 
at times, made him terrible towards the guilty. The murder case at 
Salem gave opportunity for displays of this nature. f 

Some of the other celebrated cases, in which Webster's fame is en- 
shrined, are the steamboat case of Gibbons and Ogden, that of the 
Charles River Bridge, the United States Bank, the boundary of Massa- 
chusetts and Rhode Island, the Dorr Rebellion, the Girard Will, the 
Gaines estate, and the Goodyear patent. 

Mighty man in a mighty profession ! His name is associated with the 
weightiest judgments of Courts, the most intricate questions of civil and 
constitutional law, the dearest rights of mankind, the most severe dis- 
plays of intellectual competition, and scenes of the most commanding 
and effective eloquence ! 

DANIEL WEBSTER AS A STATESMAN. 

Although the sciences of law and of government have common prin- 
ciples, and maintain general relations of affinity and correspondence, 
they are by no means identical ; nor does professional eminence in the 

* It is said that the dignified Chief Justice Marshall did not escape the contagious 
sympathy of the occasion. 

t See his Works, Vol. VI., 41. 



12 

one necessarily lead to equal honour in the other. On the contrary, 
an eminent lawyer rarely makes a great statesman. Daniel Webster 
was both. Law and statesmanship were the double sciences through 
which his great mind gave expression to its diversified powers. This 
remarkable combination heightens immeasurably his eminence in each 
profession. To be great in either, is greatness indeed ; but to be great, 
and so great, in loth, is the achievement only of genius, gifted superla- 
tively. 

Mr. Webster's early predilections seem to have been towards public 
life. This is indicated in his Junior oration at Dartmouth College, an 
oration exhibiting both political knowledge and party enthusiasm. The 
young student, when at Fryeburg, did not confine his studies to Black- 
stone. At this same place he committed to memory Fisher Ames's cele- 
brated speech on the British treaty — a speech abounding in comprehen- 
sive investigations of political science and history, lie thus began early 
in life that double work of law and government, which was perfected in 
the world-renowned reputation of an eventful public career. 

Mr. Webster's first speech on entering public life, as he himself says,* 
was in behalf of the system of common schools — a beginning worthy of 
the log school-house boy, of the Dartmouth College youth, of the Massa- 
chusetts Senator, and of the United States Secretary of State. In 
1813, at the age of 31, Mr. Webster, then residing at Portsmouth, took 
his seat as Representative from New Hampshire in the Congress of the 
United States. His maiden speech, delivered the same year, on the 
Berlin and Milan decrees, placed him in the front rank with Clay, Cal- 
houn, Lowndes, and the other leaders in the House. The distinguished 
Lowndes remarked, " The North had not his equal, nor the South his 
superior."! Mr. AVebster's most celebrated speeches in the Lower 
House were on the embargo, the increase of the navy, the bank, the 
Greek revolution, the Panama mission, and the tariff: in the Senate, on 
the tariff, Mr. Foot's resolution, nullification, the United States Bank, 
the French spoliation bill, the public lands, the power of removal from 
office, the national defence, the currency question, internal improve- 
ments, the annexation of Texas, the independent treasury, the boundary 
treaty, the compromise measures. 

His statesmanlike capabilities, as Secretary of State, were signally 
displayed in the settlement of the Northeastern boundary, the Caroline 
and Amistad cases, the relations with Mexico, the German Zoll-Verein, 
tlie Hulseman letter, ( 'entral American affairs, China and the Sandwich 

* Speech at Madison, Iiuliana, in Vol. I., p. 403, of his Works. 

f Chief Justice Marshall, in a letter to a friend, says: "At the time this speech was 
delivered. I did not know Mr. Wolister, Imt I was so much struck with it that I did not 
lie^itatc then to state that Mr. Webster was a very able man, and would become one of 
the very first statesmen in America, perhaps the very first." 



13 

Islands, and the right of fishery. Mr. Webster's diplomatic and official 
papers, embracing the relations of the United States Avith the principal 
nations of the earth, embody an amount of intricate political disf^uisi- 
tion, creditable to his intellect, his wisdom, and his learning.* His 
administration of the State department will be chiefly associated with 
" The Treaty of Washington" and the boundary question. This treaty 
was negotiated under circumstances of extreme embarrassment; England, 
on the one hand, never feeling better prepared for war than in 1842, 
and our own people being strongly clamorous for an uncurtailed boun- 
dary line. The controversy, however, of nearly half a century was 
settled amicably and honourably to both nations. 

A necessary element in the character of a statesman is devotion to 
his country. The sources of Daniel Webster's patriotism were the Bible 
and American history ; to these he had been led by a mother's piety 
and a father's example. The father's personal services and reminis- 
cences, in the war of 1776, were rallying points of hereditary patriotism ; 
and naturally served to associate, with more than ordinary vividness, 
the principles of the Revolution with those of the Mayflower compact, 
of Plymouth Rock, and of Pilgrim heroism and suffering. Nurtured 
under the inspirations of Bible truth, and of Puritan and Revolutionary 
history, Daniel Webster was a true lover of his country. Referring to 
the early history of New England in his Address at Plymouth Rock, he 
exclaimed : " Who would wish for other emblazoning of his country's 
heraldry, or other ornaments of her genealogy, than to be able to say, 
that her first existence was with intelligence, her first breath the inspi- 
ration of liberty, her first principle the truth of divine religion." 

Mr. AVebster's patriotism was displayed in a long public life by 
his unqiienchahh attachment to the Union. Thoroughly and minutely 
acquainted with American history, deeply realizing the radical defects 
of the Articles of the old Confederation, convinced of the necessity of 
the permanent Union of the States, and glorying in the wisdom of the 
Constitution as it is, he put forth his whole powers in perpetuating 
American liberty on its ancient covenanted foundation. He ever main- 
tained that our present Constitution was formed, not by the separate 
States, but by the people of the whole United States. This was the 
groundwork of his argument against Nullification. His soul was with 
the people as the framers of the Constitution. To their wisdom in 
adopting this instrument, he always gave due homage. For example, 
in his speech at Faneuil Hall, in 1838, he said that the mechanics of 
Boston " saw as quick and as fully as any men in the country, the infir- 
mities of the old Confederation, and discerned the means by which they 

* See Webster's Works, Vol. vi., pp. 247-5G0. 



14 

might be remedied. From the first, they were ardent and zealous 
friends of the Constitution. They saw the necessity of united councils, 
and common regulations, for all the States, in matters of trade and 
commerce."* The Constitutiox, the Constitut'on originating in the 
zvants of the people, and approved by their own ivisdom, were ideas 
which illuminated the way of his whole political career, and which 
flashed their light amidst the splendour of his most sublime eloquence. 
Mr. Webster's political reputation will be identified not so much with 
one particular measure, as with the grand principle of constitutional 
integrity which pervaded all his counsels and opinions. He was the 
man for the Union, for " the country, the whole country, and nothing 
but the country." The crown of his statesmanship will receive its 
highest glory, — not in the laurel leaves of a general renown, but in the 
" bright particular stars" of the American Union, set in jewelled bright- 
ness upon his brow, adorning and adorned. 

The conclusion of his celebrated speech, in reply to Colonel Ilayne, 
presents the leading principle of his public life. 

•' When my eyes for the last time shall be raised to behold the sun in heaven, may they 
not gaze upon the broken fragments of a dishonoured, but once glorious Union : upon 
States dissevered, discordant, and belligerent; upon a land rent with civil feuds, and 
drenched, it may be, in paternal blood. Let their last feeble and lingering gaze 
rather behold the glorious ensign of the Republic, now known and honoured through- 
out the earth, still full high advanced — not one stripe erased or polluted, not one star 
obscured — but streaming in all their original lustre, and bearing for its motto no 
such miserable interrogatory, as ' What is all this worth?' nor those of the words of 
delusion or folly, 'Liberty first and Union afterwards;" but everywhere, spread all 
over in characters of living, light, blazing on all its ample folds, as they lloat over 
the sea and over the land, and in every wind under the whole heavens, that other 
sentiment, dear to every true American heart, ' Libekty and Vino's, now and forever, 
one and inseparable' " 

DANIEL WEBSTER AS AN ORATOR. 

The characteristic of Calhoun was his earnest dialectic power, which 
stormed the intellect — but often in vain. Clay possessed a pathetic, 
soul-stirring elotjuence, which commanded the homage and the emotions 
of the multitude. Webster's impressive majesty of thought commonly 
captivated the understanding; but when, on special occasions, he 
wielded the thunderbolts of his ijrcat rijrht arm, and the liirhtnini; of 
his outbreaking soul Hashed athwart the firmament, there was an awe in 
the spectators, seldom felt among men. Calhoun was the metaphysical 
reasoner ; Chiy, the popular orator ; Webster, the philosophical Senator. 
Of the three. Clay had the most personal influence and the greatest tact ; 

* Vol. i. p. 430. 



15 

Calhoun was equal to either in honest purpose and zealous, manly deter- 
mination : Webster was sublime in towering genius, comprehensive 
argumentation, and bold, Saxon utterance. Each was independent and 
lofty-minded. Although Carolina, Kentucky, and Massachusetts, are 
well-nigh unanimous, each in favour of her own son, the general voice 
of the nation would probably give to Calhoun more of bold, metaphy- 
sical subtlety (in the best sense of that word) ; to Clay more of winning 
and accomplished oratory ; to Webster more of influential reasoning, 
literary acquisition, and enduring impression. 

Daniel Webster's oratory became his personal appearance, like the 
drapery of a classic statue. There was a harmony in his presence, and 
in his words ; in the light of his eye and tlie light of his thoughts; in 
his compact muscular form, and his arguments ; in the majesty of his 
brow, and the full-meaning, solemn enunciations of his truth. lie was 
a man equal to emergencies. Indeed, emergencies were necessary 
for the full development of his powers. He Avas ordinarily calm and 
argumentative. His address was in winning the understanding ; but 
when needful, reserved forces of passionate eloquence were marshalled 
forth, at the sound of his great voice, with consummate skill and suc- 
cess. He was not aggressive by nature. His tremendous prerogative 
Avas defence. Constitutionally conservative, he stayed himself upon 
the established principles of American liberty and national policy. 
The subjects that gave scope to his powers were usually fundamental 
ones. Great themes exercised his greatness. He was a fearful anta- 
gonist, if compelled to vindicate his own opinions, and descend into the 
arena of personal conflict. His reply to Colonel Hayne, has nothing 
superior in the whole history of parliamentary gladiatorship.* His 
rejoinder to Colonel Hayne is equally celebrated as a specimen of close, 
succinct, unanswerable ratiocination. Mr. Webster was ordinarily con- 
cise. He spoke to the point. He did not " draw out the thread of his 
verbosity finer than the staple of his argument." He respected his 
subject as well as himself. His presence excited awe in a deliberative 
body. Although generally slow and distinct in his enunciations, his 

* The writer happened to be travelling at the South -when this debate occurred. 
After reading the speech of Colonel Hayne, he felt that the North liad received a terri- 
ble castigation, and was held up to the derision of the Republic. Nor did it seem pos- 
sible, even for Webster, to turn that tremendous attack. On arriving at Augusta, Ga., 
the whole town was talking of Mr. Webster's rcpl}", which was everywhere pronounced 
triumphant. Nothing but reading the reply satisfied me that the people had given a true 
judgment. On arriving at Charleston, Colonel Ilayne's residence, the same judgment 
was freely rendered. The following is an extract from the speech of the Hon. R. Barn- 
well RnETT, recently delivered before the Charleston bar, on the occasion of Mr. Web- 
ster's death ; "As an orator, he leaves in his speech on Footc's resolutions, the greatest 
oratorical effort ever made by an American statesman." This speech of Mr. Webster, will 
be found in Vol. III., of his Works. 



IG 

sreat thouf^hts came out as fast as the most attentive audience could 
follow them. His eloquence belonged to the North, rather than to the 
South or -the West ; but it received homage from all sections of country, 
from all classes of society, and from all orders of intellect. There "was 
nothing provincial about it. On the contrary, it was pure, elevated, 
human, Anglo-Saxon. The oratory of AVebster will go down to pos- 
terity with applause. In the monumental column of the world's elo- 
quence, formed by the contributions to the illustrious of all ages, the 
name of the Massachusetts Senator will appear with those of Demos- 
thenes, and Cicero, and Burke, and Fox, and Patrick Henry, and Clay ; 
and if any stones in the column have a brighter polish, or more exter- 
nal beauty, not Grecian marble itself will attract more eyes than the 
enduring granite, inscribed with Webster. 

DANIEL WEBSTER AS A WRITER. 

The aptitude of a noble mind is a pleasing exhibition of the various 
endowments God has given to human nature. We have contemplated 
Jurist — Statesman — Orator — these three ; but Writer completes the 
squai'c on which is demonstrated the entire problem of A^ebster's 
mysterious greatness. 

The remark about to be made may excite at first surprise, but it will 
stand the test of examination : — that the En;rlish lan<ruacre docs not 
exhibit purer and more classic models of efficient literature than Daniel 
Webster's addresses at Plymouth Rock, at Bunker Hill, and in com- 
memoration of Adams and Jeflcrson. These alone would immortalize 
any man. They are better known throughout the United States than 
any similar productions of human genius. They are the familiar ora- 
tions in schools, academics, and colleges, to develope, and to develope 
nobly, the elocution of the young men of our country ; and they will 
contribute, throughout all coming generations, to form the taste, the 
style, and the thoughts, of American statesmen and public speakers. 
May I be allowed to introduce here an extract from his Bunker Hill 
Oration ? 

'•'.We consecrale our work to the spirit of national independence; and we wish 
that the light of peace may rest upon it for ever. We rear a memorial of our con- 
viction of that unmeasured benefit which has been conferred on our own land, and 
of the happy influences which have been produced by the same events on the 
general inlere.st.s of mankind. We come, as Americans, to mark a spot which must 
be for ever dear to us and our posterity. We wish that whosoever, in all coming 
time, shall turn his eye hither, may behold tliat the place is not undistinguished 
where the first jzreat battle of the Revolution was fought. We wish that this struc- 
ture may proclaim the magnitude and importance of that event to every class and 
every age. We wish that infancy may learn the purpose of its erection from 



17 

maternal lips, and that weary and withered age may behold it, and be solaced by 
the recollections which it suggests. We wish that labour may look up here, and be 
proud, in the midst of its toil. We wish that, in those days of disaster, which, as 
they come upon all nations, must be expected to come upon us also, desponding 
patriotism may turn its eyes hitherward, and be assured that the foundations of our 
national power are still strong. We wish that this column, rising toward heaven 
among the pointed spires of so many temples dedicated to God, may contribute 
also to produce,, in all minds, a pious feeling of dependence and gratitude. We 
wish, finally, that the last object to the sight of him who leaves his native shore, 
and the first to gladden his who revisits it, may be something which shall remind 
him of the liberty and the glory of his country. Let it rise ! let it rise ! till it meet 
the sun in his coming! — let the earliest light of the morning gild it, and parting day 
linger and play on its summit!"' 

Let Mr. Webster's orations be carefully and critically examined, and 
there will be found pure, vigorous diction ; a style which, whilst it is 
neither elaborately ornate nor carelessly free, conveys with elegant 
precision the simplicity of truth ; thoughts grand and inspiring ; pleasing, 
classical, and appropriate illustrations; minute and copious learning; 
graphic description; a reverence for God and for the solemn things 
of religion ; all interwoven with passages of sublimity and beauty, and 
compacted in the texture of finished literature. 

Mr. Webster's writings properly include his whole works. By these 
his reputation is to be tested. His literary orations, his Congressional 
speeches, his legal arguments, his occasional addresses, his diplomatic 
and ofiicial papers, his miscellaneous letters, form a unity of mental 
achievement which cannot fail in all future time to command admiration. 
The specimens given to the public of Mr. Webster's easy, off-hand, 
familiar letter-writing are equal to anything of the kind that has ever 
appeared.* The variety of the subjects in Mr. Webster's works is as 
remarkable as the general excellence which marks the treatment of 
them all. 

One thing about Mr. Webster's writings is a fortunate attainment. 
I refer to his love of pure, old, strong words. No man has done more 
to retain the Saxon element in our literature. In his speeches, writings, 
and conversation, Daniel Webster was true to his mother tongue. To 
use one of his own allusions at the Royal Agricultural Society in Eng- 
land, he loved " the kith and kin of the old Saxon race."^ 

Daniel Webster's works have recently been published in six splendid 
octavo volumes. They are the repositories of great thoughts on great 
subjects expressed in great words. Mr. Everett states that, in preparing 
the works of Mr. Webster for the press, almost everything was left to 
his editorial discretion in matters of taste. But one thing Mr. Webster 

* For example, his Letters about his father and his early home ; on the mornings 
those addressed to his farmer, John Taylor, and to various political characters, 
t Vol. I., p. 438. 

2 



18 

enjoined. " My friend," said he, " I wish to perpetuate no feuds. . . . 
I have sometimes, though rarely, and that in self-defence, been led to 
speak of others with severity. I beg you, where you can do it without 
wholly changing the character of the speech, and thus doing essential 
injustice to me, to obliterate every trait of personality of this kind." 
Mr. Everett well adds : " But I need not tell you, fellow-citizens, that 
there is no one of our distinguished public men, whose speeches contain 
less occasion for such an injunction." Mr. "Webster's writings are per- 
vaded with high moral sentiment, and with references to sacred subjects 
adapted to impress the mind with reverence. In the language of one 
of his friends'^ to the citizens of Springfield, Massachusetts : 

•• It is fortunate for us and for posterity that so many of his speeches have been so 
well preserved : and that his works have been collected and published while he 
lived to superintend the publication, and to adorn them with t^uch exquisitely beau- 
tiful and touching dedications to those relations for whom he felt so warm an atfec- 
tion. Those works, and others which will yet be added, are of the richest treasures 
of the country. There is yet one — a history of the Administration of Washington, 
which he had long been engaged to some extent in preparing, but which it is to be 
feared is left incomplete. No man was so competent to write this history as he : for 
he knew all the history of this country by heart. He once remarked of himself, that 
it was but a little that he knew; but if he knew anything, it was the history of this 
country. He added, that at the age of fourteen years he became interested in the 
study of this history, and had never lost that interest, nor ceased to make it a study." 

Daniel Webster's Works will serve admirably to increase and to per- 
petuate his reputation. Whilst they are splendid contributions to 
American literature, they are guardians, for posterity, of his fame as 
Jurist, Statesman, Orator, and Writer. 

III. Having attempted to form an estimate of Mr. Webster in the 
prominent varieties of his public life, let us turn to his more private and 
social traits of character, and to the solemn scenes of his death. 

DANIEL WEBSTER'S SOCIAL TRAITS. 

It is acknowledged by all that Mr. Webster's greatness shone in the 
social circle no less than in public life. Though not as readily accessi- 
ble as some men, and having an appearance, which might, at times, be 
called dignity, and, at times, reserve, he had nevertheless a large, social 
heart, which beat true in its friendships, and which was generous and 
warm in its affections. 

A writer, who knew him well, thus remarks of his more familiar in- 
tercourse :t 

'•Mr. Webster was never seen to more advantage than within his own household, 
at the family board, or in strolling with him over his farm at INlarshtleld. or standing: 

* Reuben A. Chapman, Esq. f In the Boslori Atlas. 



19 

with him upon the &ea-beach and looking out upon the ocean before us, which, like 
the scope of his intellectual vision, appeared boundless. 

•' We have enjoyed these things, and there are no events in our life in which we 
have experienced more pleasure. As we write, they involuntarily rise before us, 
like blessed visions of other and better days. To hear him converse upon the past, 
the present, the future, in a familiar, colloquial manner, to listen to his great thought.^ 
e.vpressed in the purest words of our language, and wonder how he could thus speak 
and think, are joys which we can find no words to express. 

"His fund of anecdote and of personal reminiscence was inexhaustible. No one 
could start a subject, relating to history, and especially to American Congressional 
life, about which he could not relate some anecdote connected with some of the prin- 
cipal characters, which, when told, would throw additional light upon the narrative, 
and illustrate some prominent trait in the characters of the persons engaged in the 
transaction. This great gift he possessed in a degree unsurpassed. Mr. Webster's 
■ table talk' was fully equal to any of his more elaborate efforts in the Senate. He 
could talk, to use a somewhat misnonieric expression, as well as he could speak. 
He had a keen sense of the ludicrous, and loved and appreciated nice touches of 
eccentric humour."' 

The manner in which Mr. "Webster was accustomed to speak and 
write of his father and mother, his sisters and brothers, his wife and 
children, indicates the true sensibilities of his nature. The following 
language of one of his friends* beautifully expresses the sentiments, 
doubtless, of all who knew him. 

" Upon a near and familiar approach to most great men, they dwindle to the size 
of common men. Their greatness is only seen on special occasions, and after much 
preparation. But he, though familiar and frank as a child, though never attempting 
to display his superiority, appeared greatest in his most familiar and careless con- 
versation. It may be said of him, as travellers say of the Pyramids, that one can 
only appreciate their full size when standing at their base. I have heard in his pri- 
vate conversation higher specimens of eloquence than his published works contain. 

" Great as his powers of argument and eloquence were, that which gives the 
brightest lustre to all his public addresses, is the lofty tone of moral purity that per- 
vades them. This moral purity of sentiment was founded in a reverence for God 
and for the Christian religion. His private conversation, his most intimate friends 
testify, was never blemished by a profane, irreverent, indecent, or unseemly ex- 
pression." 

HIS LOVE OF AGRICULTURE. 

Mr. "Webster had a strong sympathy with nature. The works of 
creatiQn afforded relaxation and delight to his mind. A taste for agri- 
cultural pursuits, Avhich was early sown in the rich mould of his genial 
nature, was cultivated, as he had opportunity, and yielded harvests of 
enjoyment in his summer and autumnal years. In his speech on the 
agriculture of England, delivered at Boston, in 1840, he commenced by 
saying : 

* Reuben A. Chapman, Esq., in his address before the Springfield bar, Massachusetts. 



20 

"Mr. Chairman: I would observe in the outset of these remarks, 
that I regard agriculture as the leading interest of society ; and as 
having, in all its relations, a direct and intimate bearing upon human 
comfort and national prosperity. I have heen familiar ivitJi its opera- 
tions in my youth ; and I have always looked upon the subject with a 
lively and deep interest."* 

About the year 1825, Mr. Webster purchased a part of his Marsh- 
field estate, which he afterwards enlarged by other purchases until the 
farm included about 2000 acres, " extending from a beach at the north, 
nearly two miles in length, on which the ocean dashes its ever-rolling 
Avaves, to a low range of picturesque hills on the south and southwest." 
This large plantation embraced every variety of upland and lowland ; 
and although much indebted to nature, it owed more to the laborious, 
reclaiming processes of a scientific and masterly agriculture. Mr. 
Webster attended by personal oversight to the practical working and 
general management of his farm. Thus, in his letter to John Taylor, 
he gives the following directions about one of his farms, whilst attend- 
ing, at Washington, as Secretary of State, to the great political interests 
of the nation : 

WASFiiNGTOx, Alarch 17, 1852. 

John Taylor: Go ahead. The heart of the Winter is broken, and before ihe 1st 
day of April, all your land may be ploughed. Buy the oxen of Captain Marlson, if 
you think the price fair. Pay for the hay. I .send you a check for Si 60, for these 
two objects. Put the great oxen in a condition to be turned out and fattened. You 
have a good horse-team; and I think in addition to this, four oxen and a pair of 
four-year-old steers will do your work. If you think so, then dispose of the Stevens 
oxen, or unyoke them, and send them to the pasture for beef. I know not when I 
shall see you. but I hope before planting. If you need anything, such as guano, for 
instance, write to Joseph Buck, Esq., Boston, and he will send it to you. 

Whatever ground you sow or plant, see that it is in good condition. We want no 
pennyroyal oops. " A little farm well tilled,'' is to a farmer the next best thing to a 
" liule wife well willed.' Cultivate your garden. Be sure to produce sufficient 
quantities of useful vegetables. 

^Ir. Webster was interested in agriculture, mind and heart and soul. 
Thorougldy conversant with its philosophical principles, he was also an 
enthusiast in their practical application. His crops were large; the 
pastures kept in good order ; drainage thoroughly attended to ; the 
agricultural imi)lcments of the best description ; the cattle of a superior 
quality ; in short, the Marshfield estate presented an example of 
thorough, prosperou.s, iutelligcnt management. 

Mr. Webster pai<l particular attention to his cattle. He loved a fine 
animal, and knew wherein consisted its good points. He was an excel- 
lent judge of stock. Among his numerous animals of foreign blood, 

* Webster's Works, vol. i., page 443. 



21 

were Devons, Alderneys, Ayrshires, Hertfordshires, and Durhams. His 
interest in these amounted almost to a friendship. It is an afTccting 
incident that, during one of the days of his last sickness, he ordered his 
favourite herds to be driven up towards the house, in a position to be 
seen from his window ; and there, for the last time, his admiring eye 
looked upon their well-bred proportions of beauty and strength. 

Mr. "Webster's address on "the agriculture of England," to which 
allusion has been made, contains a large amount of useful matter. 
Beginning with the primary elements which enter into the consideration 
of the agriculture of a country, which he defined to be four — " climate, 
soil, price of land, and price of labour" — he makes some general re- 
marks on each, and then goes on to discuss a great variety of practical 
questions of the highest interest to American agriculturists. The ad- 
dress contains a mass of agricultural information, compact as a rich 
wheat-field, and goldened all over with the natural colour of his ripe 
literature. It concludes as follows : 

"Agriculture feeds us; to a great degree it clothes us; without it we should not 
have manufactures, and we could not have commerce. These all stand together, 
but the)' stand together like pillars in a cluster, the largest in the centre, and that 
largest is agriculture. Let us remember, too, that we live in a country of small 
farms and freehold tenements; a country in which men cultivate with their own 
hands their own fee-simple acres, drawing not only their subsistence, but al.^o their 
spirit of independence and manly freedom, from the ground they plough. They are 
at once its owners, its cultivators, and its defenders. And whatever else may be 
undervalued or overlooked, let us never forget that the cultivation of the earth is the 
most important labour of man. INIan may be civilized, in some degree, without great 
progress in manufactures and with little commerce with his distant neighbours. But 
without the cultivation of the earth, he is, in all countries, a savage. Until he gives 
up the chase, and fixes himself in some place and seeks a living from the earth, he 
is a roaming barbarian. When tillage begins, other arts follow. The farmers, there- 
fore, are the founders of human civilization." 

Mr. Webster's general information on the branches of knowledge, 
which are cognate to agriculture, was extensive. He understood a good 
deal of chemistry, botany,* natural history, mineralogy, geology. No 
branch of learning was alien to him, as an agriculturist. 

Mr. Webster's recreations Avere of the out-door kind. He loved 
fishing, gunning, riding, walking, sailing. His bout, which was called 
the " Home Squadron," often tested his skill at navigation. In these 
recreations he was hearty, and up to any one in skill and enjoyment. 
His habits of early rising gave him a long day, and no man had a better 
right to pleasant relaxation. He ever delighted in 

■^ The ■writer remembers his astonishment, many yc.irs ago, when, in walking about 
his father's grounds in Albany, ■with this statesman (the only character in which he 
was then known to me), Mr. Webster seemed perfectly familiar witii every variety of trees, 
some of which were rare, and referred to Michaux' North American Sylva, and other 
standard works on botany, as he would to Vattel's Law of Nations. 



22 

'• The breezy call of incense-breathing morn ;" 

and the exhilaration of the cailv sun was spread through the habits of 
his life, whether at ^Vashington or on his farm. 

His mansion, Avith all its sights and associations, was Websterian. 
It is a large, massive structure, combining the antique and the modern, 
raised upon a knoll above the general outline of the surrounding scenery, 
in full view of the rolling sea, and in the midst of the associations of 
Pilgrim history and the remnants of Pilgrim graves.* Its internal 
arrangements are those of convenience and taste, with plenty of room 
for friends, a large library, and the miscellaneous appurtenances of a 
gentleman-farmer's home, specially adorned with a collection of medals, 
voted to General "Washington by the old Congress.f 

Yonder magnificent elm, which stands near the mansion, and which 
has seen a century of storms, sheltered its proprietor for the last time, 
about a fortnight before his death. Going out to reciprocate the salu- 
tations of a wedding-party who had called to see him, he returned after 
a few minutes into the house ; leaving his last footmark upon his beloved 
Marshficld farm, and taking the last outdoor glance upon its beautiful 
and variegated outline. 

DANIEL Webster's moral and religious character. 

"Would that a man, so great, had borne through life a consistent reli- 
gious character ! Here his greatness, alas ! fails. "Whatever may have 
been latterly his religious feelings and exercises, his moral example can- 
not be held up to the unqualified admiration of American youth. 

The great question, after all, that decides human character and des- 
tiny is, '■^ Was he religious ?" That many have entertained doubts in 
reference to the religious character of the distinguished man who has 
now ended his earthly probation, is an admission due to truth. It is 
not denied, and ought not to be concealed, that Mr. "Webster's character 
during periods of his lifetime, suft'ered serious loss from charges of im- 
morality. To what extent these were true, or false, it is impossible to 
affirm ; doubtless they were much exaggerated. And who can say that 
the delinquencies charged were not cither backslidings from general 
Christian steadfastness, or sins repented of in the later exercises of his 
soul, and washed away by the lilood of an atoning Saviour ? 

* Plymouth Rock is about twenty miles off, and on ft clear day the scene of the May- 
flower's landing may be discerned. The graveyard, where many of the early colonists 
of the parish were buried, is within a mile of the mansion. Here is the grave of Gover- 
nor Wiuslow, and also of Peregrine White, the tirst-born child uf the Colony. Near by, 
stood the old parish church, built next after that of Plymouth. 

f These medals were offered to Congress ; but that body being slow to purchase them, 
they were presented by private liberality to .Mr. Webster's family. Since the death of 
the great W.vsuixoto.nia.n, are they not to be deposited with some national institution? 



23 

There arc certainly many interesting illustrations of the strength of 
the religious sentiment in the mind and conscience of the great states- 
man. His early religious training, under the parental roof, was thorough 
and enduring in its impressions. lie acquired a taste and reverence for 
the Bible Avhich never forsook him, and committed to memory the Gate- 
chism and the larger portion of Watts's Psalms and Hymns. Under the 
care of Dr. Abbott of Exeter Academy, and of Dr. AVood of Boscawen, 
his religious convictions must have been cultivated and strengthened. 
In his college course, Dr. Shurtlcff testifies to the fidelity with which he 
discharged his general duties, and to the undeviating strictness of his 
moral character. When he taught school at Fryeburg, Dr. Osgood, who 
lived in the same house with him, says that he was a professor of reli- 
gion, and even had thoughts of entering the ministry. His first wife 
was the pious daughter of a Congregational clergyman. So fai*, all be- 
tokens well. Evangelical religion, deeply rooted in his mind, seems to 
have been exerting also a practical influence on his life. 

After Mr. Webster's settlement in Boston, few particulars about his 
religious sentiments and habits have been divulged to the public. It is 
well known, that at this time, or shortly after, the great mass of the 
educated and influential professional men of the city, were Unitarians. 
Almost all the old churches had departed from the ancient faith of New 
England, and Park Street Church was not yet founded. It is stated, 
in one of the papers, that Mr. Webster attended the Brattle Street 
Church — Unitarian — for sixteen years. Unitarianism at that time, 
however, was in a comparatively latent form, and many persons attended 
the old churches, partly from choice, and partly from necessity, who 
never enrolled themselves as Unitarians. Certainly Daniel Webster 
has never been claimed as a Unitarian. He was always a believer in 
the divinity of Christ, and in the fundamental doctrines of the evan- 
gelical Faith. An orthodox Congregational clergyman, who had charge 
of a parish to which Mr. Webster formerly belonged, says that, upon 
one occasion, the distinguished statesman " spoke of how the cause of 
orthodoxy was protected in the north of Boston by the indefatigable 
Dr. Morse, of Charlcstown," a man who was "always thinking, always 
reading, always writing, always preaching, always acting" — of the Rev. 
Dr. Codman, " who maintained the cause at the south, at Dorchester, 
and of other clergymen of that day." Mr. Webster, on becoming an 
inhabitant of Dorchester, where he spent the summer for a number of 
years, called upon Dr. Codman, and, in the course of the conversation, 
he remarked, " Sir, I am come to be one of your parishioners, not one 
of your fashionable ones, but you will find me in my seat both in the 
morning and afternoon." 

Mr. Webster, in the latter years of his life, attended the Episcopal 
church, of which his wife was a member. He himself had joined the Con- 



24 

gregational church, in Salisbury, in early life ; and this accounts for the 
fact, that he occasionally partook of the sacrament, where he happened 
to be, Avith members of different denominations. Such acts show the 
powerful, indwelling sense of the claims of religion ; and as he was the 
farthest possible removed from hypocrisy, they are the expressions of a 
sincere belief in the doctrines and requirements of the Gospel. 

For the last two years of his life, the great statesman seems to have 
given himself up more and more to religious duties. The Rev. Dr. 
Shurtleff, of Dartmouth College, in referring to this subject,* " spoke 
of his last interview with Mr. AVebster in Boston, about two years ago, 
at his (Mr. Webster's) invitation. Knowing that great men are liable, 
from their position, to fail of receiving personal exhortation from the 
clergy, he resolved to do that duty which early intimacy, and as pas- 
tor in the college for a long period, made fit. He did so, and found 
Mr. "Webster not only kindly disposed, but even anticipating him in the 
free communication of his personal religious feelings. Dr. Shurtleff 
said, ' I found his views of Christian doctrine and the claims of Chris- 
tian duty perfectly coincident Avith my own.'" 

There are many other concurrent testimonies to the same purport. 
The pastor of the Orthodox Church in Marshficld, unequivocally 
expresses an entire confidence in Mr. Webster's religious character. 
In the address at the funeral, f reference is made to his habit of 
engaging, at least at times, in family worship ; and the pastor applies 
to Mr. Webster these words : " I am bound to sav, that in the course 
of my life, I never met with an individual, in any profession or con- 
dition, who always spoke and always thought with such awful reverence 
of the power and presence of God. No irreverence, no lightness, even 
no too familiar allusions to God and his attributes, ever escaped his 
lips." " Those who know him best, can most truly appreciate the les- 
sons, both from his lips and his example, teaching the sustaining power 
of the Gospel." 

In the light of these various evidences, especially when viewed in 
their connexion with his sound training in the faith and his early atten- 
tion to religion, the hope may be charitably indulged, that Daniel Web- 
ster relied for salvation upon the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ ;| 

* At a late meeting of the officers and students of Dai'tmouth College. 

f Published in the Appendix to this Discourse. 

J The caution of the writer in speaking on this subject, may seem excessive, and 
even repulsive to those whose views of religious truth are more lax than the Westmin- 
ster standards. I have, however, according to my own religious convictions, alluded to 
this solemn and delicate question, and endeavoured to obey the claims of Christian 
charity. There are persons, on the opposite extreme, who will doubtless censure even 
the expression of a hope. I trust that the language emidoyed will not, on the whole, 
offend many of the fullowcrs of Clirist. God alone knows the heart. This prerogative 
the writer has not attempted to invade. 



25 



and yet a little child, or a poor slave, may, in the kingdom of God, be 
greater than he. 

The hope of his religious character is strongest when -we approach 
his dying bed, and behold him in the hour when heart and flesh fail. 



DANIEL Webster's deatii-bed. 



The startling intelligence is brought that the great statesman is 



dying ! Disease is invading the frame which God built for the abode of 
living greatness. The body is but dust, but dust in mysterious glory ! 
" It is said that when Thorwaldscn, the Danish sculptor, was residing 
in Rome, he visited the studio of our countryman. Powers. In look- 
ing about the room, he discovered a plaster cast of Webster. He 
inquired, with surprise, whether it could be possible that it was the 
actual representation of any man ; and after a long and careful exami- 
nation, he pronounced it superior to the highest conception of mental 
strength and dignity which the ancients had been able to express 
in their busts of Jupiter." That wonder-compelling cast, though brittle, 
is to outlive the majestic head that gave it form. The cheek, which 
once corresponded with its outline, is now wan and shrunken with 
disease. The arch of his massive, intellectual brow, is already shaken 
by the failing keystone of life. The "large, black, solemn-looking 
eye," alone shines Avith unabated strength, lighting up the impending 
ruin, and casting rays which will soon, in expiring, render the darkness 
more visible. Ah ! Immortal Orator ! Art thou on the bed of death ? 
Heaven sustain thee there ! The terrific work of bodily destruction is 
going forward under the arrangements of that Providence which is 
concerned in all births, all lives, all deaths. Let us approach the scene 
with awe ; and may God be with us when our own time shall come ! 

On Thursday morning, Mr. Webster despatched his last public busi- 
ness : in the afternoon, gave some directions about his farm ; and in 
the evening, executed his will, Avhich had been previously prepared. 
" During all these transactions, and throughout the whole evening, Mr. 
Webster showed an entire self-possession, and the most perfect compo- 
sure and clearness of all his faculties, speaking with his peculiar aptness 
of phraseology, words of kindness and consolation to those around him, 
and expressing religious] sentiments, appropriate to his condition, 
with the greatest simplicity and earnestness. His voice was as clear 
and distinct as it ever was, and his mind showed constant evidence of 
those qualities of exactness and power which had so strongly charac- 
terized his career." 

On Friday afternoon, he asked to have the people employed in his 
family and upon his farm, called in ; and after giving them much earnest 
advice upon matters temporal and spiritual, he bade them a last fare- 
well. 



26 

On Saturday evening, being told that his end was approaching, he 
summoned, first the female members of his family, and then the male ; 
and addressing to them appropriate Avords of farewell, and of religious 
consolation, bade adieu to them for ever. In the course of these inter- 
views, he remarked, " What would be the condition of any of us without 
the hope of immortality ? "What is there to rest that hope upon but the 
gospel ?"* He also remarked, "My general wish on earth has been to 
do my Maker's will. I thank him, I thank him for the means of doing 
some little good ; for these beloved objects, for the blessings that sur- 
round me, for my nature and associations. I thank him that I am to 
die under so many circumstances of love and aflfection."* 

Shortly after the interviews with his relatives and friends, as if speak- 
ing to himself, he said, " On the 24th of October, all that is mortal of 
Daniel Webster will be no more." 

He now prayed in his natural, usual voice — strong, full, and clear — 
ending with, " Heavenly Father, forgive my sins and receive me 

TO THYSELF, THROUGH JeSUS ChRIST." 

Conversing with great exactness, he seemed to be anxious to be able 
to mark to himself the final period of his dissolution. 

He was answered that it might occur in one, two, or three hours, but 
that the time could not be definitely calculated. 

"Then," said Mr. Webster, "I suppose I must lie here quietly till 
it comes." 

The retching and vomiting now recurred again ; and Dr. Jeffries of- 
fered to Mr. Webster something Avhich he hoped might give him ease. 

Tlic dying statesman remarked — "Something more, Doctor — more. 
I want restoration." 

Between ten and eleven o'clock he repeated, somewhat indistinctly, 
the words, "Poet, poetry — Gray, Gray." 

Mr. Fletcher Webster repeated the first line of the elegy — "The Cur- 
few tolls the knell of parting day." 

"That's it, that's it," said ]Mr. Webster; and the book was brought 
and some stanzas read to him, which seemed to give him pleasure. 

From twelve o'clock till two there was much restlessness, but not much 
sufi'ering ; the physicians were quite confident tliat there was no actual 
pain. 

A faintness occurred, which led him to think that his death was at 
hand. AVhilo in this condition some expressions fell from him, indicating 
the hope that his mind would remain to him completely until the last. 

lie spake of the dilliculty of the process of dying, when Dr. JcftVies 
repeated the verse: — 

"Though I Avalk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will 

* George T. Curtis, Esq. 



I 



27 

fear no evil, for thou art ■with me — thy rod and thy staff, they comfort 
me." 

Mr. Webster said immediately : — " The fact — the fact ! That is what 
I want ! Thy rod— thy rod ! thy staff— thy staff!" 

Only once more did he speak after this. On arousing from a deep 
sleep, ho uttered the words, "I still live." The close was perfectly 
tranquil and easy. He died on the 24th of October, about a quarter 
before 3 o'clock, in the morning. 

Thus, by a beautiful coincidence, his departure occurred early in his 
own favourite part of the day — early in the morning. In his letter, on 
this topic, he said : "I knoAV the morning — I am acquainted with it and 
love it." We trust, that through the infinite grace of Christ, he had 
reason to love that last morning, and that its light was to him, spiritu- 
ally, " as the light of the morning ivlien the sun riseth, even a morning 

WITHOUT CLOUDS !" 

LESSONS AT DANIEL WEBSTER'S GRAVE. 

IV. As Christians, and as citizens, it becomes us to endeavour to 
search out some of the lessons of Providence, in the light and gloom 
of the grave of Webster. 

1. Let us THANK God for raising up such men, in His Providence, 
and LOOK to Him for their succession. 

Webster came from the hands of God. His vast intellect, in fitting 
union with a noble frame, was workmanship divine. His life, although 
not free from censure, and in nothing perfect, has left influences so 
generally favourable to our national prosperity, that a thankful acknow- 
ledgment is due to the Maker and Ruler of all. The mind, Avhich enabled 
the jurist to plead, the statesman to devise and execute, the orator 

''The applause of listening Senates to command/' 

that mind, so fertile in resources of power, and so exerted in behalf of 
his country, her laws, and her rights, was given and sustained in reason 
to the last, by Him, in whom we all " live, and move, and have our 
being." Let God have the glory of his genius, his wisdom, his eloquence, 
his public services, his political influence, and his solemn death. 

Whence but from heaven can the succession of such men be expected? 
To God alone can the nation look for public characters, who shall be 
equally able and equally willing to serve the United States of America. 
In time past, God has given to our country great minds as well as great 
natural landmarks. Bounded with mighty oceans, and coursed by vast 
rivers and prairies and mountains, our land has been the birth-place of 
Washington and Franklin and Henry and Jefferson and Adams and 
Marshall and Jay, and many other names of national immortality. But 
never have appeared simultaneously in American history three states- 
men of superior mental greatness to Calhoun, Clay, and Webster. The 



28 

general mourning, which followed the departure of each from the theatre 
of their common fame, shows a nation's estimate of its great public loss. 
And never was mourning more universal and less interrupted by party 
prejudices, than over the last of the three— the Champion of the Con- 
stitution. In the beautiful language of one of America's chief poets :* 

"The great are falling from us; to the dust 

Our flag droops midway, full of many sighs;] 
A nation's glory and a people's trust 

Lie in the ample pall where Webster lies. 

"The great are falling from us, one by one, 
As fall the patriarchs of the forest trees ; 
The winds shall seek them vainly, and the sua 
Gaze on each vacant space for centuries. 

"Lo! Carolina mourns her steadfast pine, 

Which, like a mainmast, towered above her realm; 
And Ashland hears no more the voice divine 
From out the branches of her stalely elm. 

" And IVIarshfield's giant oak, whose stormy brow 
Oft turned the ocean tempest from the west, 
Lies on the shore he guarded lonij: and now 



Our startled Eagle knows not where to rest." 



'o 



But God will continue to give us great men, if we put not undue con- 
fidence in them. There are saplings in our American forests Avhich 
may yet attain to equal elevation with Upland, or Hanover, or Salisbury 
growth ; and the American eagle, when it no more sliall find high resting- 
places for its glory, will soar away into heaven and die in the light of 
the dazzling sun. 

2. The influence of early religious training and of association 
in the formation of character is one of tlie plainest inferences. 

Daniel AVebster was well trained and well associated all his earlj' 
years. He was cradled, and nurtured, and foUowshipped, by the wise 
and good. Few men have iiad better influences to grow up under than 
the Salisbury l)oy, until after he loft his Fryeburg retirement, and came 
to Boston. Early education marked its traces upon his cliaractcr, dis- 
tinctly visible. Like the even flow of a crystal current wearing into 
the rock of the mountain, his training wrought into the solid range of 
his thought and soul. Fathers I mothers ! take care of your children I 
AVithout thorough religious influences, there is little hope of future 
restraint upon their passions, or of the right application of their talents. 
Unattended to in their early days, your sons will grow up to l)ccome 

''*' T. Buchanan Read. 



29 

like the deceitful brook, — dry in the season of need, and pouring down 
wild torrents in every storm. 

3. The value of an academical and collegiate education is an- 
other important lesson. 

If Daniel Webster had not been furnislicd with the discipline of a 
complete education, his mind never could have received that intellectual 
expansion which made him so great among his fellows. The academy 
and college are the workshops of busy minds. He was early indentured 
to his profession, and acquired his civil and political skill from lessons 
in the ancient classics, in philosophy, history, and literature, and from 
the mind-sharpening processes of youtliful competition and industry. 
The rule of greatness is early diligence and ac([uiremcnt. There are 
indeed exceptions to this rule, but never exceptions like unto Daniel 
Webster. Such men are men of trained attainment, of early-wrought 
cultivation ; not left to the rare contingency of self-development, but 
nurtured out by the skilful influence of preparatory study, mental dis- 
cipline, and learned acquisition. Our academies and colleges are the 
training-places of able public and professional men. Let them be sus- 
tained and multiplied ! Let learning be honoured ! 

4. A great encouragement is presented in the life of Daniel Webster 

to the LAUDABLE ASPIRINGS OF YOUNG MEN IN HONEST POVERTY. 

Ambition, misdirected and earthly, is a curse to the soul that harbours 
it. But there is a pure and commendable desire to do ones best, which 
is alike the dictate of patriotism and of Christianity. Webster once en- 
gaged in the commonest employments among men. Reputable but 
lowly, his intellect and perseverance elevated him to the highest stations 
and honours of his country. Many a common school-boy will feel the 
influence of his example ; many a student of Dartmouth and other Ameri- 
can colleges will be stimulated by the rising fortunes of the farmer's 
son ; and many a teacher, toiling over the double work of instructing 
others and of self-instruction, will gain energy from the scenes of Frye- 
burg, which led up to the heights of legal and political distinction. All, 
of every condition and age, may learn from Webster to do their best for 
their country. But a right ambition stops not there. And if he failed, 
in any respect, in the fulness of a true example, let all remember that 
it is our duty to do our best for our country and FOR OUR GoD. 

" Let all the ends thou aim'st at be thy country's, 
Thy God's, and truth's." 

5. The capriciousness of public opinion is one of the truths of 
the occasion. 

Public men cannot count upon a full reward of their eminent services 
at the tribunal of popular favour. This life is a life of discipline ; and 



30 

none need its trials and disappointments more than those who mingle in 
the great scenes of the world's affairs. Nor are any more sure of ex- 
periencing disappointments in large, embittering measures. Every 
statesman at times is made to realize the capriciousncss of public opinion, 
and 

'' Finds the people strangely fantasied."" 

Mr. AVebster received many testimonies of high national homage, and 
yet the highest was given not to him, but to far inferior men. It is no 
departure from truth to say that Harrison and Taylor never once 
breathed the intellectual inspirations which were the daily motions of 
Webster's soul. And yet such men were preferred before him. But 
no fame of theirs, — tliough the fame of battles and of victories, — can 
equal the triumphs of genius, wrought by thee. Statesman, Jurist, and 
Orator, of a deathless renown ! Thou wast spared the sight of the last 
contest, and the fruitless efforts of a faithful few! God Jtimself with- 
d7'eiv thy illustrious name from the struggle, Avrapping thee away from 
the dust of an inglorious arena in the majestic pall of a statesman's 
mantle ! 

G. The homage paid by intellect to Christianity is illustrated 
in the life of this great man. 

Mr. Webster's public speeches and addresses, throughout his whole 
career, are pervaded with religious thought, and the acknowledgment of 
Christianity. It is stated by his Marshfield pastor that he contemplated 
writing a book on the Evidences of Christianity, so much interest did he 
entertain in that great subject. Behold, then, another great name 
added to the long list of those whose highly cultivated intellects sustain 
the religion of Jesus Christ on its external and internal evidences. Let 
the sceptic pause in view of the confounding testimony of such an array 
of minds, capable of far-reaching discrimination, of severe investigation, 
and patient deduction of truthful conclusions. 

Among Mr. Webster's many public declarations in homage of reli- 
gion are the following sentences of an address delivered in commemora- 
tion of his old friend and compeer, Jeremiah Mason : 

" But, Sir, political eminence and professional fame fade away and die with all_ 
things earthly. Nothing of character is really permanent but virtue and personal 
worth. Those remain. Wliatever of excellence is wrought into the soul itself 
belongs to both worlds. Real goodness does not attach itself merely to this life ; it 
points to another world. Political or professional reputation cannot last for ever: but 
a conscience void of ofTence before God and man, is an inheritance for eternity. 
licligiou, therefore, is a necessary and indispensable element in anv great human 
character. There is no living without it. Religion is the tietiiai connects man with 
his Creator, and holds him to his throne. If that tie be all sundered, all broken, he 
floats away, a worthless atom in the universe, its proper attractions all gone, its 
destiny thwarted, and its whole future nothing but darkness, desolation, and death. 



31 

A man with no sense of religious duty is he whom the Scriptures describe, in such 
ter.-e but terrific language, as living ' without God in tht; world.' Such a man is out 
of his proper being, out of the circle of all liis duties, out uf the circle of all his hap- 
piness, and away, far, far away, from the purposes of his creation." 

7. The end of earthly greatness is seen at the Marshficld grave. 
There is an appointed season unto man and of life of death. Both 

his soul and his dust are under providential doom ; and generation 
after generation passes away, amidst crumbling thrones and universal 
instability. Human elevation, at best a tottering pinnacle, falls at 
death. 

"The boast of heraldry, the ]iomp of power, 

And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave, 
Await alike th' inevitable hour : 

The patlis of glory lead but to the grave." 

The death of Webster is the expression of a universal law, — of a 
law which regulates the setting, as well as the rising, of the star of 
human destiny. This great man, closing his eyes in death, declares, 
with speechless solemnity, more eloquent than living utterance, that 
"political and professional reputation cannot last for ever ; but a con- 
science void of offence towards God and man is an inheritance for eter- 
nity." " Political eminence and professional fame fade away and die 
with all things earthly. Nothing of character is really permanent but 
virtue and personal worth." 

8. Personal religion, the highest form of worth, is the true glory 
and joy of a statesman. 

Alas ! that the character we have been contemplating, should fail in 
inspiring the same trust in its religious attributes as it commands in its 
other forms of greatness ! If the illustrious statesman had exhibited 
the transparent and consistent piety of William AYilberforce, or John 
Jay, what an amount of service might have been rendered in the spiri- 
tual kingdom, as well as in the political world I The example of public 
men, and especially of great public men, is influential on a large scale. 
May God never curse our country with greatness dissevered from good- 
ness ! The religion of Jesus Christ, which is the only true basis of 
individual character, is the only safe support of the State. 

Personal piety includes more than an acknowledgment of Christianity 
as a system of religious belief; it has holier exercises than a mere 
respect for sacred things : it implies more than an outward morality, 
however severe. Originating by the grace of God in " faith in our Lord 
Jesus Christ," it "works by love, purifies the heart, and overcomes the 
world." Works are the evidence and the expression of faith; and trust 



32 

cannot be sincere, however clear may be credence, without the accompa- 
nying fruits of righteousness. Religion, heartfelt and sustaining, is the 
want of our nature. The highest attainments of worldly fame can never 
satisfy the immortal soul. It grasps for something that is divine and 
enduring. All else is a reed — brittle and deceitful — which no one may 
rest upon in a dying hour. "A rod — thy rod; a staff— thy staff" 
— " that is tvhat we want" when we go out to walk alone in the valley 
of the shadow of death. 



APPENDIX. 



The death of Mr. Webster was received with a profound sensation throughout the 
country. Meetings were held in the chief cities and towns to express the deeply 
felt sense of national loss. The addresses, on these occasions, exhibit some of the 
finest specimens of American eloquence. Reference is here made particularly to the 
speeches of Messrs. Everett, Choate, Chapman, Park, and Curtis, of Massachusetts, 
of Franklin Pierce of New Hampshire, of George M. Dallas of Pennsylvania, and others 
in New York, Charleston, &c. It is to be hoped that these addresses will be collected, 
and published in a "Webster Testimonial." 

The following account of the Funeral Riles and Ceremonies has been compiled chiefly 
from the New York Herald : 

THE SOLEMNITIES AT MARSHFIELD. 

The morning of Friday, the 29th of October, — the day set apart for consigning to the 
tomb the mortal remains of our greatest statesman, — dawned upon the country as bright 
and glorious as the opening of a summer day. It seemed as if nature, like men, had, 
for that solemn occasion, hushed to stillness all discordant elements, as a tribute of 
respect to the yet unburied dead. Not a breeze came from the nigh shores of the ocean 
to disturb the serenity of that beautiful morning at Marshfield. The dying leaves still 
clung with lingering fondness to their parent stem, unscvercd by the breath of the au- 
tumnal wind, and all things seemed to speak to the mind of peace, harmony, and love. 
It was, indeed, a morning well suited to that solemn ceremony which its noonday sun 
was doomed to witness. 

ARRIVALS AT THE SCENE OF MOURNING. 

From an early hour the numerous roads and avenues to Marshfield swarmed with 
vehicles and equipages of all descriptions, conveying thousands of sincere mourners, 
anxious to participate in the last sad rites of friendship and respect to the illustrious 
dead, and to have the melancholy satisfaction of taking a final look at the form and 
features so enshrined in the memory and hearts of all. Hundreds on hundreds of car- 
riages came pouring in from every quarter, with their quota of grief-stricken hearts, 
and all the villages, farm-houses, and fields, for miles around, were impressed to aflFord 
accommodation to the innumerable teams which continued to arrive during the forenoon, 
so that by one o'clock in the afternoon there could not have been less than ten thousand 
persons in and about the grounds. The distance of Marshfield from Boston is about 
thirty-five miles, and as there were no means of railroad conveyance nearer than within 
ten miles, and as the facilities for reaching it by water were equally unfavourable, the 
largest proportion of the attendance arrived by private conveyance. Many of those 
from F.oston had left on the previous evening, and swarmed the little villages, inns, and 
farm-houses on the route, seeking for accommodation during the night. They left at 
an early hour in the morning, and by nine o'clock there was a vast congregation 
present. 

3 



34 



THE HOUSE AND OEOUNDS. 

Marshfield, as seen from the road, which runs through the demesne some quarter of 
a mile westerly, presents a very handsome and picturesque appearance. It is ap- 
proached by a winding carriage road, which, with a gentle descent, leads to the front 
of the mansion. The house stands on a slight elevation, facing the south, while before 
its eastern front stretches away a long plain of marshy land, flooded at high tide, and 
from which it takes its name. The settlement of Marshfield is one of the oldest in New 
England, being next in point of antiquity to Plymouth, from which it is distant some 
twelve miles, and has many interesting historical reminiscences. On the little hill to 
the north, where now "the rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep," and where the ho- 
noured ashes of Mr. Webster are to-day entombed, stood the second Christian church 
erected on this continent by the Pilgrim Fathers, not a vestige of which, however, now 
remains. 

The house is situated about two miles from the village of Marshfield, — a small, insig- 
nificant hamlet, containing some score of houses, two churches, and a mill, but present- 
ing no evidence of worldly prosperity. The house has been much improved and 
enlarged, and it is now one of the finest seats in that portion of the country. The farm 
consists, for the most part, of marshy, sandy soil, so that but a small proportion of its 
1,800 acres is laid out in tillage; but yet the agricultural produce has been always 
adequate to the feeding of the cattle, and to the payment, in kind, of some thirty or 
forty laboui-ers, — the customary mode of paying farm-servants in that portion of the 
country. Mr. Webster also owned a large farm in his native State of New Hampshire. 
It was his earnest desire that Marshfield should remain in the hands of his family, and 
we understand that his wishes in this, as^n all other respects, will be strictly complied 
with. 

TAKING THE L.\ST LOOK — SCE.NE ON THE LAWN. 

About nine o'clock, a.m., "all that was mortal of Daniel Webster" was conveyed 
from the library in which it had lain since his death, and placed on a bier in front of 
the house, under the shade of a handsome silver maple tree, which in life he had much 
admired. The body was encased in a metallic coffin, so constructed as to permit of the 
upper portion of it being taken off, and exposing to the sight of his sorrowing friends 
the head and bust of the deceased. It was lined with white satin, and presented a 
highly finished and tasteful appearance : and within its nan-ow limits lay, in the repose 
of death, all that now belonged to him whose matchless genius and surpassing eloquence 
had invested the whole nation with glory. Tastefully woven wreaths of oak leaves with 
their acorns, ivy, myrtle, and exotic flowers, adorned the coflSn, and seemed appropriate 
offerings of respect and afl'ectiou. The same habiliments by which he was familiarized 
to all his acquaintance, formed his only winding-sheet. They consisted of a dark blue 
broadcloth dress coat, with brass buttons, white pants, patent leather gaiter boots, 
white cravat and vest, and white silk gloves. 

Tlie scene around the coflin was extremely affecting. There marched, one by one, in 
mute and mournful procession, the thousands who felt a desire to take a farewell look 
at him Avhoni it contained, ere the earth claimed her own for ever. It was a sorrowful 
sight to behold the emotion of aged men as they passed by and looked into those fami- 
liar lineaments — now how changed ; and as they felt their cherished reminiscences 
connected with the illustrious dead crowding upon them with an appeal to their nature 
not to be resisted, the old men bent with excess of grief, and with convulsive effort strove 
to wipe away the fast-trickling tears. And stalwart manhood bent low in anguish, and 
moved quickly on as if ashamed of exposing its weakness. And women and maidens 
joined that melancholy procession, and paid the tribute of tears and sighs to the memory 
of him whom in his life they had loved and honoured. And scattered in clusters about 
the spot stood the simple villagers and farmers of Marshfield, discoursing among them- 
Bclves of the bereavement which they had personally sustained, and recounting scenes 



35 

of homely life and manners, in which the lamented had taken part with them time and 
again. It was a scene which cannot be easily effaced from the memory of those who 
witnessed it. 

FUNEREAL RITES. 

At half an hour after noon the solemn rites commenced. The relatives and friends 
of the deceased occupied the music-room ; the deputations stood in the parlours, on the 
opposite side of the front entrance; while the ofliciating clergyman, the Rev. Ehenkzer 
Alden, a lineal descendant of one of the Pilgrim Fathers, occupied a position on the 
piazza, where he could be heard by those within as well as by the vast multitude on 
the lawn. The service commenced by the reading of the following 

SELECTIONS FROM SCRirTURE. 

Man that is born of a woman is of few days and full of trouble. He cometh forth 
like a flower, and is cut down ; he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not. 

.'Vnd dost thou open thine eyes upon such an one, and bringest me into judgment 
with Thee ? Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean ? Not one. 

Seeing his days arc determined, the number of his months is with Thee ; thou hast 
appointed his bounds that he cannot pass. 

Turn from him, that he may rest till he shall accomplish as an hireling his day. 

For there is hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again, and that the 
tender branch thereof will not cease. 

Though the root thereof wax old in the earth, and the stock thereof die in the ground, 
yet through the scent of water it will bud and bring forth boughs like a plant. But 
man dieth and wasteth away. Yea, man giveth up the ghost, and where is he ? 

I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that lie shall stand at the latter day upon the 
earth. 

And though after my skin worms shall destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see 

God. 

Jesus said unto her : I am the resurrection and the life ; he that believeth in me, 
though he were dead, yet shall he live. 

And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this ? 

But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first fruits of them that slept. 

For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. 

For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. 

But every man in his own order; Christ the first fruits, afterward they that are 
Christ's at his coming. 

Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the 
Father ; when he shall have put down all rule, and all authority and power. 

For he must reign till he hath put all enemies under his feet. 

The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. 

Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God ; 
neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. 

Behold, I show you a mystery : we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. 

In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump : for the trumpet shall 
sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 

For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immor- 
tality. 

So, when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have 
put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written. Death is 
swallowed up in victory. 

Oh, death, where is thy sting ? Oh, grave, where is thy victory? 

The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, 
which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 

After the reading of these selections from Scripture followed the Address by the Rev. 
Mr. Alden, which is as follows : 

ADDRESS. 

On an occasion like the present, a multitude of words were worse than idle. Stand- 
in"' before that majestic form, it becomes ordinary men to keep silence. "He, being 



36 

dead, yet speaketh." In the words he applied to Washington in the last great public 
discourse he ever delivered, " the whole atmosphere is redolent of his name ; hills and 
forests, rocks and rivers, echo and re-echo his praises." All the good, whether learned 
or unlearned, high or low, rich or poor, feel this day that there is one treasure common 
to them all ; and that is the fame and character of Webster. They recount his deeds, 
ponder over his principles and teachings, and resolve to be more and more guided by 
them in future. Americans by birth are proud of his character, and exiles from foreign 
shores arc eager to participate in admiration of him ; and it is true that he is this day, 
here, everywhere, more an object of love and regard than on any day since his birth. 

And while the world, too prone to worship mere intellect, laments that the orator and 
statesman is no more, we enter upon more sacred ground, and dwell upon the example 
and counsels of a Christian, as a husband, father, and friend. I trust it will be no rude 
wounding of the spirit, no intrusion upon the privacy of domestic life, to allude to a few 
circumstances in the last scenes of the mortal existence of the great man who is gone, 
fitted to administer Christian consolation, and to guide to a better acquaintance with 
that religion which is adapted both to temper our grief and establish our hope. 

Those who were present upon the morning of that Sabbath upon which this head of 
a family conducted the worship of his household, will never forget, as he read from our 
Lord's Sermon on the Mount, the emphasis which he alone was capable of giving to 
that passage which speaks of the divine nature of forgiveness. They saw beaming from 
that eye, now closed in death, the spii-it of Him who first uttered that godlike sentiment. 

And he who, bj' the direction of the dying man, upon a subsequent morning of the 
day of rest, read in their connexion these words: "Lord, I believe; help thou mine 
unbelief;" and then the closing chapter of our Saviour's last words to his disciples, — 
being particularly requested to dwell upon this clause of the verse : " Holy Father, 
keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, 
as we arc:'" — beheld a sublime illustration of the indwelling and abiding power of 
Christian faith. 

And if these tender remembrances only cause our tears to flow more freely, it may 
not be improper for us to present the example of the father, when his great heart was 
rent by the loss of a daughter whom he most dearly loved. Those present on that 
occasion well remember, when the struggle of mortal agony was over, retiring from the 
presence of the dead, bowing together before the presence of God, and joining with the 
afilicted father, as he poured forth his soul, pleading for grace and strength from on 
high. 

As, upon the morning of his death, we conversed upon the evident fact that for the 
last few weeks his mind had been engaged in preparation for an exchange of worlds, 
one who knew him well remarked, " His whole life has been that preparation." The 
people of this rural neighbourhood, among whom he spent the last twenty years of his 
life, among whom he died, and with whom he is to rest, have been accustomed to regard 
him with mingled veneration and love. Those who knew him best can the most truly 
appreciate the lessons both from his lips and example, teaching the sustaining power of 
the Gospel. 

His last words, " I still live," we may interpret in a higher sense than that in which 
they are usually regarded. He has taught us how to attain the life of faith and the life 
to come. 

Vividly impressed upon the memory of the speaker is the instruction once received as 
to the fitting way of presenting divine truth from the sacred desk. Would that its force 
might be felt by those who are called to minister in divine things 1 Said Mr. Webster. 
•'When I attend upon the preaching of tlie Gospel. I wish to have it made a personal 
matter — a personal matter — .\ it.ksonal )i.\tteu." It is to present him as enforcing these 
divine lessons of wisdom and consolation that we have recalled to your minds these 
precious recollections. 

And we need utter no apology. Indeed, we sliould be inexcusable in letting the pre- 
sent opportunity pass without unveiling the inner sanctuary of the life of the foremost 
man of all this world; for his most intimate friends arc well aware tiiat he had it in 
mind to })rcparc a work upon the internal evidences of Christianity, as a testimony of 
his heartfelt conviction of the " divine reality" of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I^ut find- 
ing himself gradually approaching tliose august scenes of immortality into which he had 
so often looked, he dictated the most important part of his epitaph. And so long as 
" the rock shall guard his rest and the ocean sound his dirge," the world shall read 
upon his monument not only 

•'One of tlic few, tlie immnrtal names. 
Which were not bom to die," 



37 

but also that Daniel Webster lived and died in the Christian faith. The delineation 
■which he gave of one of his early and noble compeers could never have been written, 
except from experimental acquaintance with that whicli he holds up as the chief excel- 
lence of his friend. This description we shall apply to himself, trusting it will be as 
well understood as admired. 

" I'ulitical eminence and professional fame fade away and die with all things earthly. 
Nothing of character is really permanent but virtue and personal worth. These re- 
main. \Yhatcver of excellence is wrought into the soul itself, belongs to both worl.ls. 
Real goodness does not attach itself merely to this life ; it points to another world. 
Political or professional reputation cannot last for ever ; but a conscience void of offence 
before God and man is an inheritance for eternity. Religion, therefore, is a necessary 
and indispensable element in any great human character. Tliere is no living without 
it. Religion is the tie that connects man with his Creator, and holds him to his throne. 
If that tie be all sundered, all broken, he floats away, a worthless atom in the universe, 
its proper attractions all gone, its destiny thwarted, and its whole future nothing but 
darkness, desolation, and death. A man with no sense of religious duty is he whom 
the Scriptures describe, in such terse but terrific language, as living without God in the 
world. Such a man is out of his proper being, out of the circle of all his duties, out of 
the circle of all his happiness, and away, far, far away from the purposes of his crea- 
tion-" 

A mind like Mr. Webster's, active, thoughtful, penetrating, sedate, could not but 

meditate deeply on the condition of man below, and feel its responsibilities. lie could 
not look on this mighty system, 

'•This universal frame, thus wondrous fair," 

without feeling that it was created and iipheld by an Intelligence to which all other in- 
telligences must be responsible. I am bound to say, that in the course of my life I 
never met with an individual, in any profession or condition, who always spokeand 
always thought with such awful reverence of the power and presence of God. No irre- 
verence, no lightness, even no too familiar allusion to God and his attributes ever escaped 
his lips. The very notion of a Supreme Being was, with him, made up of awe and 
solemnity. It filled the whole of his great mind with the strongest emotions. A man 
like him, with all his proper sentiments and sensibilities alive in him, must, in this 
stage of existence, have something to believe and something to hope for ; or else, as life 
is advancing to its close, all is heart-sinking and oppression. Depend upon it, what- 
ever may be the mind of an old man, old age is only really happy when, on feeling the 
enjoyments of this world pass away, it has learned to lay a stronger hold on the reali- 
ties of another. 

Mr. Webster's religious sentiments and feelings were the crowning glories of his 
character. 

P R A Y E E. 

"Lord, Thou hast been our dwelling-place in all generations. Before the mountains 
were brought forth, or ever Thou hast formed the earth and the world, even from ever- 
lasting to everlasting. Thou art God. Thou turnest man to destruction; and sayest, 
return, ye children of men." In that solemn event, which has changed this abode into 
a house of mourning, we acknowledge Thy sovereign hand, and bow before thine infi- 
nite majesty and thine adorable power. " Clouds and darkness are round about" Thee ; 
yet "justice and judgment are the habitation of Thy thi-one, mercy and truth shall go 
before Thy face." Grant us then. Heavenly Father, the influences of Thy divine Spirit, 
that we may be enabled, in this the day of our calamity, both to see the visitation of 
Thy hand and submit ourselves to Thy most righteous will. We bless Thee for Thine 
Iloly Word, which irradiates the darkness of the tomb, revealing Ilim who is "the re- 
surrection and the life," and cheering us with the promise of the holy and ever present 
Comforter. While we mourn, we would not forget to gratefully acknowledge Thy mer- 
cies. We bless Thee that Thy distinguished servant, to whose mortal remains we arc 
now about to pay our last tribute of respect, was permitted to live out the allotted 
period of human existence, and attain his " threescore years and ten." We bless Thee 
that for so long a time we were allowed to rejoice in his counsels, his affection, and 
care. We thank Thee that during the last hours of his life the privilege was granted to 
his friends, in this quiet retreat of home, to minister to his wants and soothe his dying 
pillow. We rejoice that in his illustrious life we have seen verified Thy promise, 



38 

" Them that honour me, I will honour." We render Thee thanks that, above all our 
precious memories we can reflect that in early life he devoted himself to Thy service ; 
that he ever profoundly venerated Thy character and reverenced Thy word ; that he 
loved the ordinances and institutions of Thine house; and that in his transit from earth 
he was enabled, as we humbly trust, to say, " Though I walk through the valley of the 
shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff they 
comfort me." May the rich inheritance of his life, and the sad remembrance of his 
death, be sanctified to our eternal good. 

Especially do we implore Thy divine blessing upon those who sustained to the departed 
the tenderest of all human relations ; and whose hearts are to-day oppressed with the 
deepest affliction and sorrow. To thy gracious care and keeping we would fervently 
commend her from whom Thou hast removed a beloved husband. Thou hast laid Thine 
hand heavily upon her. Yet may her language be, " The Lord gave and the Lord hath 
taken away ; blessed be the name of the Lord." May she be supported and sustained 
in this trying hour by the consolations of the religion of Jesus, and hear the kind voice 
— "In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment, but with everlasting kind- 
ness will I have mercy upon thee, saith the Lord, thy Redeemer." Remember, also, in 
tender compassion, we beseech thee, the children who mourn the loss of an affectionate 
parent. Lless them and their children, and establish with them Thine everlasting 
covenant. May grace within them triumph over the repining of nature so that each 
one can from the heart exclaim — "Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him." Im- 
part the consolation of Thy Word and Spirit to all who to-day mourn that they shall no 
more see the face of one who was bound to them by the ties of kindred and affection. 
Enable them to aojuiesce in Thy sovereign will, to confide in Thy compassionate love. 
" For the Lord will not cast off for ever." But though he cause grief, yet will he have 
compassion according to the multitude of his mercies. For he doth not afflict willingly, 
nor grieve the children of men. This bereaved household, this large circle of devoted 
and long-tried friends, those with whom Thy departed servant was accustomed to 
associate in the familiar intercourse of domestic or social life, we commit unto Thee, 
Thou great dispenser of all events, praying that this impressive lesson of Thy pro- 
vidence, which we are now called to learn, may result in the best good of our undying souls 
through the sanctifying influence of the Holy Spirit. 

And now. Lord, we would implore Thy blessing upon our stricken land. Enable 
Thy servant, the President of the United States, and those immediately associated with 
him in administering our national affairs, to suitably improve that act of Thy Providence, 
which has removed from their midst a counsellor and guide. Direct the minds of all 
who occupy stations of authority and influence, to recognise their dependence upon 
the great Arbiter of human destiny, and the Sovereign of nations. And bless the people 
throughout the length and breadth of our national domain. May they feel, though 
the right arm of their strength is broken, and perils to our peace and prosperity impend, 
"it is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in princes." The Lord God be with 
us, as He was with our fathers ; let Ilim not leave us, nor forsake us ; that he may incline 
our hearts unto Ilim, to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commandments, and his 
statutes, and his judgments, which he commanded our fathers. 

And now. Lord, go with us, as we follow to their last earthly resting-place these mortal 
remains of human greatness. We go to deposit these sacred relics in the house appointed 
for all living, there to slumber amid the aslies of the near and dear, and the sleeping dust 
of those who upon these shores planted the germ of the institutions under which we dwell. 
Almighty God, we beseech thee, go with us ; let Thy visible presence cheer the heart 
of every mourner. As we resign this body to the tomb, there to rest till summoned 
by the last trump to rise glorified and fitted for the renewed and final abode of its 
exalted and immortal spirit, may we be cheered and encouraged by the power of a 
living faith, and by the hope of a glorious reunion in the world of light and love. 

These favours we ask through the prevailing merits and sacrifice of our Lord Jesus 
Christ, to whom, with the Father and the Holy Ghost, one God, the praise of our sal- 
vation be ascribed, now and for ever. Amen. 

During this solemn ceremony there were few hearts in that vast assembly unmoved 
— few eyes that did not pay the tribute of a tear to departed worth. 

The solemnities closed at the mansion at half-past one o'clock, when the funeral cor- 
tege proceeded to the tomb, about a half mile distant. 

I'ROCESSION TO TUE TOMB. 

There were no ladies in the procession, and no carriages, but so great was the 



39 

length that scarcely two-thirds had left the house when the body reached the grave. 
The procession was composed wholly of pedestrians, and moved in the following order : 

Funeral Car, 

(drawn by two elegant black horses appropriately draped.) 

Pall Bearers. 

Asa Hcwett, Seth Weston, 

Seth Peterson, Tildcn Ames, 

Joseph P. Cushman, Daniel Phillips. 

Fletcher Webster and sons. 

James W. Paige and John J. Joy, and other Relatives. 

Domestics of the Mansion. 

Workmen upon the Farm. 

Attending Physician and officiating Clergyman. 

Selectmen of Marshfield. 

Committee of fifty of the citizens of Marshfield. 

Governor and Council. 

President of Senate and Speaker of House. 

City Government of Boston. 

General Pierce and Mayor Seaver. 

Edward Everett, Rufus Choate, Hon. Abbott Lawrence, and George Ashmun. 

City Governments of Roxbury, Charlestown, and Cambridge. 

Delegations from other cities and towns. 

Delegations from the New York Historical Society. 

Delegates of New York Bar. 

Delegates from General Democratic State Committee, New York. 

Friends and Neighbours. 

Citizens generally. 

THE SEPULCHKE. 

It had been among the cares of Mr. Webster's latter years to construct a tomb on his 
own grounds, wherein should repose the ashes of himself and his descendants. It 
stands, as we have before said, on an elevated spot, about a quarter of a mile north- 
ward from the house, occupying the site of the old church of Marshfield. From its 
summit the eye takes in a large extent of country, including the little village and its 
two modest spires, the mansion and its grounds, and in the distance is seen the blue 
waters of the ocean, which at that hour lay " calm as a slumbering babe." The tomb, 
which is merely separated by a metal paling from the old cemetery, is a rude and 
simple excavation, rising in a grassy mound, and descending to the depth of three or 
four feet. Its interior is arched with undressed stones, collected about the farm, and 
six stone steps conduct into it. Mr. Webster had intended, before his death, to have 
removed into the sepulchre the ashes of his first wife and children, who had been 
interred in Boston. He did not live to execute that pious duty himself, but he requested 
that it should be performed previous to his own interment. On the preceding day, 
therefore, in obedience to this expressed inclination, their remains, eight in all, were 
exhumed from a vault under St. Paul's Church, and conveyed to Marshfield. 

The remains of Daniel Webster were deposited on the left side of the tomb, leaving 
the opposite side vacant. 

On the plot in front stand three square, marble tablets, to Grace Fletcher, his first 
wife ; to Julia Webster Applcton, his daughter ; and to Major Fletcher Webster, his son. 

Mr. Webster has directed that a similar monument — no larger, no smaller — shall be 
there erected to his own memory; the only memorial of him at present existing there is 
a plain marble slab, about eighteen inches in length, rising out of the mound, and bear- 
ing the inscription, Daniel Webster. The little burying-ground of which this tomb may 
be said to form a part, is supposed to be the second oldest in New England, and contains 



40 

the ashes of Governor Winslow, over which rises a plain monument, with the following 
inscription quite legible upon it : — 

THE nOXBLE JOSIAH WIXSLOW 

Gour of New Plymouth dyed December ye 18, 1680, retatis 52. 

It is also a tradition among the peasantry that Peregrine ^Miite, the first child of 
English parents born in the colony, is interred here. 

LAST SCENE OF ALL. 

When the head of the procession reached the tomb, the body was borne within the 
enclosure, and placed within a plain deal box, or case, covered with a pall. Some 
seven or eight hundred persons, who had left Boston by the steamboat Atlantic, and 
had not been able to disembark where it was expected they would, arrived at the place 
of interment at this moment. It was their anxious desire to be permitted to take a last 
look at the illustrious dead ; and to gratify them, as well as others who had joined in 
the procession, the cofiBn was brought outside of the gate, and the upper portion of it 
taken off. Again was repeated the sad scene which had taken place under the maple 
tree, and upwards of an hour elapsed in this manner. At length the mourners slowly 
departed, the final prayer was said, the coflSn was lowered into the tomb, and all that 
was mortal of Daniel Webster passed for ever from the eyes of man. 

The entire proceedings were appropriate, solemn, and affecting. 



*** The Marshfield South Congregational Church was organized in 1640. According 
to the minutes of the " General Association of Massachusetts," no other church, belong- 
ing to the "Pilgrim Association," dates back to so early an origin. Hence, the writer 
infers that the First Church of Plymouth is no longer in the orthodox Congregational 
connexion. If so, the Marshfield Church is the oldest orthodox Congregational church 
in what was Phjinouth Colony, but not in the State ; the churches of Charlestown, Cam- 
bridge, and others having been organized before 1640. 

Some of Mr. Webster's letters are dated from his farm in Franklin, N. U. The old 
town of Salkhur;/ was divided some years ago, and the part in which Mr. Webster 
was born is now named Franklin. — C V. l\. 



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